Scott Stewart is no stranger to closing out a poker tournament. He had recorded 18 wins already in his career, including earning six World Series of Poker Circuit gold rings. None of those triumphs can compare to his latest victory, though. On Dec. 21, Stewart came out on top of the 2024 World Poker Tour World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. He defeated a field of 2,392 total entries in the $10,400 buy-in event to secure his 19th career title and $2,563,900 in prize money.

This was the largest payday yet for the 36-year-old poker pro from Long Beach, California. In fact, it topped his previous high score of $535,000 earned as the 13th-place finisher in the 2017 WSOP main event by over $2 million. With this marquee win, Stewart now has more than $5.6 million in lifetime earnings.

Stewart finished off the win in front of a large rail of supporters. After coming out on top, he thanked them and highlighted the celebrations that were soon to come.

“No plans for the money, but plans to have some fun and I can’t be more excited,” Stewart told WPT reporters. “I got the best friends in the world… A lot of friends came out. Shout out to you guys. You’re the best. We like to have fun, anything we do. We had a little bit of extra fun today and it was worth it.”

In addition to the title and the money, Stewart was also awarded 2,700 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first title and fifth final-table finish of the year. With 3,016 total points, he now sits just outside the top 100 in the 2024 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

This event ran from Dec. 14-21. The tournament drew 2,392 entries across its three starting flights, resulting in a $23,441,600 prize pool which was paid out across the top 299 finishers. Plenty of big names ran deep, including three-time bracelet winner Paul Volpe (28th), high-stakes tournament star Mikita Badziakouski (19th), bracelet winner Jeremy Wien (14th), and five-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon (11th).

The final day began with just six players remaining and Eddie Pak in the lead, with WPT champion and two-time bracelet winner Chris Moorman in second chip position. This was the second straight year that the UK poker pro made the final table of this huge event, having finished fourth in 2023 for a career-best score of $2,095,300.

There were fireworks right away, with three eliminations in the first 10 hands. Christian Roberts of Venezuela was the first to fall, with his AQ running into the AA of Stewart just four hands into the day. Roberts flopped a flush draw but failed to improve any further and was sent to the rail with $665,000 for his efforts.

The very next hand saw all of the chips go in with Canada’s Ryan Yu holding 99 facing the AK of Pak. In need of just an ace or king to take the lead, Pak found several of both. The final board read AKJAK, giving him aces full and the knockout. Yu earned $875,000 as the fifth-place finisher.

Moorman took a big hit on the next hand, running pocket sixes into the pocket queens of the UK’s Rob Sherwood. A few hands later Moorman min-raised to 1,600,000 from the cutoff with QQ. Pak three-bet to 5,000,000 from the small blind with 1010 and then called when Moorman four-bet to 9,100,000. The flop came down JJ7 and Pak checked. Moorman bet 4,000,000 and Pak check-raised all-in. Moorman called for 20,500,000 total. Pak invoked his ‘one time’ and the 10 rolled off on the turn, giving him tens full and the lead. The 3 on the end changed nothing and Moorman was eliminated from this tournament in fourth place for the second time in as many years. He cashed for $1,150,000 this time around, bringing his recorded earnings to $11.3 million.

“I’m gonna have to Final Table next year now…” pic.twitter.com/UoBRkrc6O4

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 22, 2024

While the first three players were dispatched in rapid succession it took several hours before the fourth knockout came to pass. On the 69th hand of the day, Pak’s run in this event came to an end. Pak had entered three-handed action with the lead, but lost a big pot early on running a multi-street bluff into the flopped aces full of Stewart. In his final hand, he defended his big blind with Q10 facing a button raise to 2,700,000 from Stewart, who held JJ. The flop came down K43 and both players checked. The 3 on the turn saw Pak check-call a 4,000,000 bet from Stewart and the river brought an action card: the J. Pak bet 11,500,000 with his queen-high flush and Stewart moved all-in with his jacks full of threes. Pak eventually made the call and was shown the bad news. The 31-year-old from Los Angeles earned $2,000,000 for his efforts, by far the largest payday on his resume.

Heads-up play began with Stewart holding 161,300,000 to the 77,900,000 of Sherwood, good for just better than a 2:1 lead. The two went on to battle for over 100 hands, with plenty of ups and downs along the way. Sherwood took the lead and stretched a big advantage of his own late, but Stewart managed to fight his way back to nearly even before the decisive hand of the tournament arrived. He picked up KK on the button and raised to 9,000,000. Sherwood three-bet shoved from the big blind for 114,200,000 effective (28.55 big blinds) with 66 and Stewart snap-called. The board came down 1052JQ and Stewart’s pocket kings held to see him take a commanding lead.

Sherwood was left with fewer than two big blinds. He managed one double up, but was soon all-in again with 73 acing J10 for Stewart. The KJ558 runout gave Stewart jacks and fives for the win, bringing the tournament to a close. Sherwood earned $2,200,000 as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photos provided by WPT.